Pirates fall twice to Cubs

Pirates pitcher and first baseman Devon Farrell crushes a ball during the team’s 6-5 loss to the Cubs at Wallace Field on Sunday. Jamie Harkins/Meridian Booster

The Northwest midget AAA Prairie Pirates couldn’t close the door on the Saskatoon Cubs.

The Pirates (4-15) fought their way back from an early five-run deficit in the second half of the club’s doubleheader against the Cubs (15-5) at Wallace Field on Sunday, only to watch their opponents once again hit in the winning run in the final inning.

The Cubs won the afternoon’s first contest 7-4 in extra innings, after tying the match on their final three outs.

“The fact is the (first) game shouldn’t have been that close to begin with,” said Pirates coach Josh Herback-South.

“We had it 4-2 in the bottom of the seventh last game, and we just weren’t able to make basic plays behind our pitcher. This (second) game we gave up four runs in the top of the second, and that just can’t happen. Whenever you give up crooked numbers in an inning, baseball is a tough game to win.”

The Pirates seemed slow to start the second game of the doubleheader, with pitcher Mickenzie Sondergaard hitting the first two batters he faced, before giving up a single to left field that put the Cubs up 1-0.

Sondergaard surrendered a walk, three singles and a double in the top of the second inning, to allow the Cubs to gain a 4-0 lead, before Chase Anderson came to the mound in relief.

Cubs catcher Brody Vogel hit one of the first pitches he saw from Anderson to left field to score his team’s fifth run.

“We just had one bad inning in that game,” said Pirates second baseman Bryce Bowman.

“You got to come out and play seven innings of ball, and we came out and played six. So, it just wasn’t enough.”

After Cubs starting pitcher Zachary Weimer hit the first two batters he faced in the bottom of the fourth inning, an errant throw to second base by Vogel allowed Anderson to score.

Pirates catcher Paul Cubbon then brought home baserunner Dillion Poschenrieder on a hit to short.

The Pirates got back to work in the bottom of the sixth inning with Poschenrieder, scoring Bowman on a sacrifice fly, Cubbon hitting Anderson home with a grounder to left field, and Tanner Huber plating Dalton Spence on a sacrifice fly to right field.

Cubs shortstop Devon Farrell scored the winning run in the top of the seventh inning thanks to a single to left field by Zach Dahlseide.

“Unless we win, I’m not happy,” said Herback-South, whose team dropped 10-5 and 15-7 decisions to the Saskatoon Diamondbacks (18-5) one day earlier.

“We did play better baseball today, but the fact is those were two games we should have won. So, we still need to get better.”

The Pirates currently sit in 10th place in the Saskatchewan Premier Baseball League (SPBL) with five wins separating them from the Regina Wolfpack (9-12) which holds down the eighth and final playoff spot.

The team has 11 SPBL contests left to make up that ground.

“We can compete with all those teams,” said Bowman. “We just got to start stringing together W’s.”

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